RELATED NEWS/ARCHIVE

But the union's lawyer, Ron Meyer, says the Florida Supreme Court's rejection of the bid did have a silver lining. "The Court confirmed what we have been saying all along, that passage of Amendment 8 will reduce the funding to public schools."

"Although the logical effect of increasing the maximum number of students will be to reduce the dollar amount of state class size funding, this effect flows naturally from the chief purpose — to revise and relax class sizes while providing that the Legislature has the attendant funding obligation. Further, we note that a voter would be able to draw a common-sense conclusion from a review of the ballot summary that the amount of funding needed to sufficiently fund the revised class sizes will likely be reduced."

Said Meyer: "Flexibility without funding is no flexibility at all. A vote for Amendment 8 is a vote against public schools."

About the blog

Gradebook features education articles and insights on schools in Florida, focusing on Tampa Bay area schools. What's the latest from the Florida Department of Education? How is the FCAT being used to compare Florida schools? What's going on in Tampa Bay schools? Get an insider's view from the Times education reporting team.